Still_Holler

Good luck. We are a small operation not to far from the PA line near Davis, WV if you ever want to come see our operation.

Congratulations and best of luck! I love Aquavit! We have a Swedish fellow who always brings some home made stuff to the local cross country ski area.

Where is it located?

Thanks you for the reply, that does help. I am now curious about the PS barrel designation for steamed or water filled barrels. Would that affect its designation as a new barrel for making bourbon? I recently purchased a couple new barrels and the cooper told me to fill them water for two days prior to filling with spirits to let the wood swell.

Do you know of any yeast strains that would produce less volatile acids in this type of mash?

I was looking at trying to run a boiler system on wood pellets and found some manufacturers in China selling small scale high efficiency boimass powered low pressure steam boilers, I think it was on Alibaba or similar website. https://www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca/images/stories/2011/mayjune11/biomassboilerbuyersguidelr.pdf has some boiler systems that run on a variety of fuels. You will have to try and find one that does not need electricity to operate or maybe provide power from generator to the boiler unit to power controls. Most of these systems are almost power plant size, make some calls they could maybe help you find smaller systems to power 132 gal still.

Thank you for the knowledge Silk City Distillers! I'm running it up to temp right now so I will try to do very little reflux and see how that goes.

Thanks, that is a great mash technique article, we do add the backset pre-cook.

I am making sour mash corn whiskey and getting a larger than expected heads component. I have few culprits in mind and wanted to run my procedure by the forum and see if anything pops out to people. 1. Am I just doing a poor job of separating the heads during distillation and smearing it into the first part of the hearts, causing me to collect a larger volume before the head flavor goes away? We have a 200gal direct fire pot still with 6" column with 4 non-bypassable bubble plates and dephelg on top. I let it reflux for 45 minutes at 165 degrees top of column. Once I start trying to decrease dephelg/increase the column temp and let distillate out I cannot get anything to come off the still until around 170 F. (I am at 2800' elevations so ethanol boiling point should be about 170) heads have been running off between 170-172 degrees from 195-175 proof. Wash is about 5% alcohol and pot temp is 195. I am getting 2.75 gal heads at 185 proof and 7.5 gal hearts at 160 proof - which leaves heads as %25 of total alcohol in the wash. 2. Is my fermentation creating a high percentage of heads compounds? From reading some things I think using a different yeast and pitching at a lower temp to create longer fermentation may help with this. I am doing all corn mash, letting it sweet mash (lactic) with alpha enzyme for 24 hours before cooking, then adding 30 gal backset, cooking to 190, cooling to 140, adding saccharization enzyme, and draining to fermenter for off grain fermentation. I am using lallemonde turbo yeast and pitching at 90 degrees F as per packaging recommendation (pitch between 100-90 degrees). Also using Servomyces and Fermaid-O organic yeast nutrient. The fermentations have been rapid and complete, below 1.000 sg in 48 hours. We are happy with the flavors and final product, just getting killed on the percentage of hearts we are recovering. (and our mash abv but that is a different story) Appreciate any feedback! Thanks.

Personally, I don't think there is such a thing as "legal moonshine" once you go legal it is no longer moonshine. It can be used as a marketing gimmick, but it ain't really moonshine! Just my 2 cents from where I come from.

Its going to be hard to find the data, some "legal moonshine" is unaged whiskey or corn whiskey, some is a specialty spirits comprised of grains and sugar. Since there is no standard of identity for moonshine, it will be hard to track.

Curious as to what you mean by "cutting" instead of stirring the mash? I have been using a hammer mill to crack my corn, I notice you say cracked corn is best. Any thoughts or experience on using a roller mill as is common when lautering malt?

I am doing monthly TTB reporting. In December I distilled some whiskey and put it in a stainless tank and recorded the proof gallons on the December Production report as going into a tank. In January I transferred the product from the tank to several barrels. I see no where on the Storage form to show if the whiskey is in a tank or barrel. Do I just keep internal documentation of the transfer to the barrels in case of an audit? Or am I missing something on the monthly storage reporting as to where the spirits are being stored? Thanks, Athey

We have a 200 gal masher and still.

3 phase?

I am on septic. I installed septic specifically for the distillery and had to get a permit from the county sanitarian. I also had to work with State Department of Environmental Protection on a plan showing where all wastes where going, then they checked with sanitarian to make sure everyone was on the same page. My permit does not allow for washing grain or spent stillage into the floor drain. I am permitted for a certain amount of gallons per day/week for cleaning and the use of two bathrooms. I was told to avoid much alcohol going into system as it has high biological oxygen demand and can kill the life in the septic. Also have to be careful about putting to much water at once in as it can wash the solids from tank into your leachfield and clog it. For example running your dephleg and condensor water into drain for long period of time. I collect mine in a tank and land apply just to avoid clogging my septic. You may want to look at a closed loop with chiller for your condensor and dephleg water if land application is not an option as volume of water will likely be more than septic can handle. You can ask potential landlord to see copy of septic permit, it should show you the size of the tank and layout and what it is permitted for.

We mill outside due to the dust and wear half face mask with dust catridges. I used to work in environmental remediation and we always had to have a clean shave when we did the respirator fitting test to get a good seal. Curious, why does grain have DE in it? To prevent bugs? It really is terrible to breath and not good for your eyes either.

curious which rules changes you are referring to?

We lauter, feed the grain to the cows, then mix the spent stillage with the corn cobs to add fiber (kind of like a soup) in big feeder and cows eat that too. I guess that only works if you shell each batch of corn like we do.

If you can get jacketed equipment like Highlander said absolutely best way for corn. If your in my boat and need to use the equipment you have, here is my process. I am currently draining a 200 gal 100% corn mash for off grain fermentation and distilling. I get about 220 gal 5% alcohol mash from 350lbs of corn. I curse basically the entire time and can barely feel my hands from stirring. I'm using a stainless false screen bottom with round holes. I use a combination of sweet mash with overnight soak, sour mash, long cook and commercial enzymes makes it drain ok most times - did I mention lots of stirring. After the first drain, I add a second hot water on top of the collapsed grain bed let it sit for 45 minutes then stir it for a while and re-drain. Then let it sit till morning and get the residual 20 gal or so out. Counting down the days till I can afford a jacketed still. Good luck!

still available, open to offers, hold full of water with no leaks, $1600 obo

Just remember to file your monthly reports with TTB once you get your permit, even if you are still under construction

Do you think enzymes affect positively or negatively?

I was about to buy a valve, probe and controller but this seems like a great idea. Any tips on manufacturers or suppliers? Thanks!

Where is the side by side taste and chemical analysis of the same spirit produced with organic and inorganic ingredients to show there is no difference? This seems to be opinion rather than a fact so why would anyone state so on a label? Also, as previous posters stated, its pretty common knowledge what organic means and the consumer is free to make their choice based on that. For me, half of buying organic is knowing that poison isn't being sprayed into our environment, damaging our pollinator populations ect... its not just about the health or taste benefits.